Mommy Monday: Because ALL Mom's Need Wine

One of my best bloggy friends, Making Mrs. M, and I had been talking about doing a collaborative post for quite some time. We both love beer and wine, so clearly we wanted to include alcohol in our post in some capacity. When we finally rounded out our idea, it seemed to make perfect sense to have this as one of my "Mommy Monday" posts.

Why? Because ALL mama's need wine. I know the difference between needing and wanting, and yes; mom's need it.

But some women are intimidated by it! They find the one bottle they like, and get it time and again because "it's good" and they know it, and they can avoid sounding dumb to the sommelier at the liquor store.

Don't be intimidated, ladies! Making Mrs. M and I are here to help you expand your alcoholic horizons with some tips on how to develop and refine your palettes. So read up, jot some notes down, and next time you're at a fancy dinner with the boss, you can impress the table with your craft beer and wine knowledge.

How To Develop Your Wine Palette

Yes, you know how to drink wine... But how do you "taste" it? You know, like when people say, "I feel a leathery texture and sense a hint of cherry in this Merlot!"

As someone who has been to an official wine school, I'll be honest with you: most of that is descriptive poetry by someone who has had too much to drink, or has spent too much time in a wine cellar with other social elitists. Seriously.

However, there still are some great ways to taste wine to bring out all the different flavors in the grapes:

"Little bites" of food is a great way to bring out the flavors in a glass of wine

1) Pour yourself mini-glasses and enjoy several wines back to back to sense the difference in sweetness, texture and pungency of the grapes. For example, if you taste a Malbac after a Pinot Noir, you'll likely note how strong and earthy the Malbac is compared to the lightness of the Pinot. This is an easy (and fun!) way to note the differences across the wine spectrum.

2) If you're sticking to one wine, try it with a range of "little bites" of food. Dark chocolate, fruit, and salty crackers are all great ways to bring out the different flavor in the same glass of wine. Perhaps the wine seems bitter after the fruit, but sweet after the dark chocolate. Play around and have some fun!

3) I like to have a glass of water to "rinse my palette" if I'm tasting. Otherwise, either the flight of wine blurs together or the salty cracker is still on my tongue when I'm trying to taste the effects of chocolate on the wine. Sipping water throughout a tasting is a must so that you're able to experience all the different flavors.

4) Have fun and taste with friends! I wasn't joking when I said wine descriptions are much like poetry. Your girlfriend might taste a hint of smoke in her Cabernet while you taste fruit. Talk about it and laugh! Remember, there is no wrong way to describe the flavor of wine. So get silly with it.

Which Wines to Choose:

This list is a good start of the general categories for red/white/sweet/dry wines. Likely, you know if you prefer sweet or dry (as in, not sweet) wine. If not, pick out two bottles from both the lists above! I also encourage you to try both red and white, even if you tend to gravitate towards one over the other.


Now that you've checked out how to taste wine, go on over to Making Mrs. M's blog and check out some tips on how to best taste craft beer. You'll be ordering for your whole table the next time you hit up a fancy restaurant!

  

High Five for {Slacking} Friday!

Ok, y'all, so my sister flew into town from NYC on Wednesday night to meet Henry for the first time. Since then, we've been playing, walking with the stroller, eating and drinking, and generally doing anything but paying attention to the internet and blogging.

You know, outside of doing a little facelift on this little blog of mine.

So, I'm slacking this Friday. I got nothin'.

I'm simply posting to tell you to have a great weekend, that I'll be back Monday with some real posts, and that I hope you have as good of a time this weekend as I plan on having with my sis and Henry plans on having with his Auntie.


But hey, these beauties have some content for you on a slow workday Friday! So head on over to them to be entertained, mmmmk?

 

Tips and Tricks for Sleeping Soundly

I know I'm not the only one who suffers from poor sleep habits.

After a month of terribly restless nights and on my wits end, I decided I needed to take some steps to ensure that can actually get a decent amount of sleep. And I'm so happy to report that these tips have worked like a charm! I now only wake up to feed the baby once in the night. When we're done, I have no trouble falling right back to sleep.

Whether or not you have issues falling asleep, staying asleep, sleep quality, or perhaps you feel as though you have no issues at all - I'd suggest trying a few of these just to see if you feel better the next morning!

Here's what worked wonders for me:

1) Lavender linen spray: I bought a small spray bottle at Target, and filled it with water. Then I add about ten drops of lavender essential oil. Fifteen minutes prior to bedtime, I give a few sprays to my pillow. This way it will dry before I climb into bed, and I'll have a fresh burst of calming lavender to sooth me off to la-la land.

2) Shut down electronics at least 30 minutes before bed time: This is hard. Formerly, I put myself to sleep checking out Pinterest from my phone. But the light of the phone/laptop/TV has been proven, time and again, to awaken and rouse the brain. Have trouble "shutting your mind off" at night? Turn off your electronics. I now enjoy about 30 minutes of reading (remember books?!) before I turn off the light, and have had no problems falling asleep within ten minutes of lights-out.

Make your bedroom a no cell phone zone at night! Also, check out this flip-phone. Takin' it back to 2002!

3) Develop a consistent routine: If you go to bed at different times each night, you're body can't get into a pattern. If some nights you stay up later depending who is on Jimmy Falon, cut it out and program your DVR. Whether it's 9pm or 11:30pm, try to always go to bed at a consistent time to right-set your sleeping clock, and get yourself on a solid routine.

4) White noise: Some people love it, others hate it. But they sell baby noisemakers for a reason - it's the way things were in the womb! I personally HAVE to have a fan running at night for that constant hmmmmmmmmm sound. My son prefers the heartbeat sound on his sound maker. That's a little "horror film-esque" for me, but to each their own! If you haven't tried it before, get a fan and try it for a week. The circulating air helps, too.

Nothing like the constant white noise of a fan. Zzzzz...

I hope you find these tips as helpful as I have in developing a better night's rest! Do you have any other tips or tricks to share? What helps you fall and stay asleep at night?